Blagoveshchensk

The early residents of both sides of the Amur in the region of today's Blagoveshchensk were the Daurs and Duchers. An early settlement in the area of today's Blagoveshchensk was the Ducher town whose name was reported by the Russian explorer Yerofey Khabarov as Aytyun in 1652, as Aigun from 1683 to 1685, and as Aigun Old Town from 1685 until the massacre in 1900, which is known to Russian archaeologists as the Grodekovo site, after the nearby village of Grodekovo about 25–30 km (16–19 mi) southeast of Blagoveshchensk. The Grodekovo site is thought by archaeologists to have been populated since ca. AD 1000. As the Russians tried to assert their control over the region, the Ducher town was probably vacated when the Duchers were evacuated by the Qing to the Sungari or Hurka in the mid-1650s. …

The city is located at the confluence of the Amur and the Zeya Rivers, opposite the Chinese city of Heihe. Blagoveschensk experiences a monsoon-influenced hot-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dwa, Trewartha Dcac), bordering on a monsoon-influenced warm-summer humid continental climate (Dwb, Dcbc) which it had before 1990. The climate is very strongly continental. The city features frigid, windy, but dry winters due to the influence of the Siberian high, and warm, wet summers, due to the East Asian monsoon. On the evening of 31 July 2011, it became the first city in the Russian Far East to be hit by a tornado. Temperatures have never risen above freezing from 21 December to 26 January inclusive; conversely, there has never been a freeze between 23 May and 12 September

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the city's economic focus has turned to border trade with China. The town is now home to a large Chinese expatriate community. Blagoveshchensk is part of a free-trade zone which includes the Chinese city of Heihe, located on the other side of the Amur River. Main industries in the town include metal and timber processing, as well as paper production. The city is served by a branch highway and railway connecting it to Belogorsk on the Trans-Siberian Railway and Trans-Siberian Highway. It is also served by a river port. On the other side of the Amur River is Heihe, Heilongjiang Province, China, which is the starting point of China National Highway 202 that goes south to Harbin and Dalian. Ignatyevo Airport, located 20 kilometers (12 mi) northwest of the city center, serves domestic destinations. …